EP0930730A2 - Optischer Zwischenverstärker - Google Patents

Optischer Zwischenverstärker Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0930730A2
EP0930730A2 EP99300303A EP99300303A EP0930730A2 EP 0930730 A2 EP0930730 A2 EP 0930730A2 EP 99300303 A EP99300303 A EP 99300303A EP 99300303 A EP99300303 A EP 99300303A EP 0930730 A2 EP0930730 A2 EP 0930730A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
optical
amplifier
amplifier stage
stage
pump source
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP99300303A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0930730A3 (de
Inventor
Dimitra Simeonidou
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Alcatel Lucent SAS
Nokia Inc
Original Assignee
Alcatel SA
Nokia Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alcatel SA, Nokia Inc filed Critical Alcatel SA
Publication of EP0930730A2 publication Critical patent/EP0930730A2/de
Publication of EP0930730A3 publication Critical patent/EP0930730A3/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B10/00—Transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio-waves, e.g. infrared, visible or ultraviolet light, or employing corpuscular radiation, e.g. quantum communication
    • H04B10/29—Repeaters
    • H04B10/291—Repeaters in which processing or amplification is carried out without conversion of the main signal from optical form
    • H04B10/2912—Repeaters in which processing or amplification is carried out without conversion of the main signal from optical form characterised by the medium used for amplification or processing
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
    • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
    • H01S3/05—Construction or shape of optical resonators; Accommodation of active medium therein; Shape of active medium
    • H01S3/06—Construction or shape of active medium
    • H01S3/063—Waveguide lasers, i.e. whereby the dimensions of the waveguide are of the order of the light wavelength
    • H01S3/067—Fibre lasers
    • H01S3/06754—Fibre amplifiers
    • H01S3/06758—Tandem amplifiers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B10/00—Transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio-waves, e.g. infrared, visible or ultraviolet light, or employing corpuscular radiation, e.g. quantum communication
    • H04B10/29—Repeaters
    • H04B10/291—Repeaters in which processing or amplification is carried out without conversion of the main signal from optical form
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
    • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
    • H01S3/09—Processes or apparatus for excitation, e.g. pumping
    • H01S3/091—Processes or apparatus for excitation, e.g. pumping using optical pumping
    • H01S3/094—Processes or apparatus for excitation, e.g. pumping using optical pumping by coherent light
    • H01S3/094096—Multi-wavelength pumping

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an optical amplifier suitable for use as an optical repeater in a high capacity optical communications system, and in particular a wavelength division multiplexed transmission system.
  • optical amplifiers In high capacity optical communications systems which operate at a line rate of say 10 Gbps or more, signal to noise ratios and dispersion impairments can introduce severe transmission limitations. At high bit rates it becomes very important to compensate for optical dispersion which accumulates. In optical amplifiers exhibiting population inversion there is a natural decay or transmission rate from upper to lower energy states. Such transitions result in the emission of photons unrelated to the optical signal, and this spontaneous emission is the source of noise within amplifiers as it adds to the signal during amplification. In a typical multistage optical repeater the optical amplifiers are pumped from a pump source at 1480 nm to provide the required gain. However, the noise performance of 1480 nm pumps is poor. At 980 nm the noise performance is significantly better but the reliability of the amplifier is generally unsatisfactory at higher pump powers.
  • a multistage optical amplifier comprises a first optical amplifier stage which is pumped at a first predetermined wavelength with light from a first pump source, a second optical amplifier stage which is pumped at a second predetermined wavelength with light from a second pump source, an optical processing element disposed between the first amplifier stage and the second amplifier stage to condition an optical output of the first amplifier stage, and an optical coupler which is adapted to couple each of the first pump source and second pump source to the first amplifier stage and second amplifier stage, respectively.
  • the optical coupler comprises a single optical circulator. More preferably, the optical coupler is a 4-port optical circulator and the first and second optical amplifier stages and first and second pump sources are each coupled to a respective port of the optical circulator.
  • the first amplifier stage is counterpumped by the first pump source at a wavelength of 980 nm and the second amplifier stage is co-pumped by the second pump source at a wavelength of 1480 nm.
  • the first pump source provides a degree of pre-amplification with a low noise figure whilst the second pump source is pumped strongly to provide the required gain for an optical signal.
  • the first amplifier stage and second amplifier stage each comprise an Erbium doped fibre amplifier.
  • the optical amplifier may comprise a multiplexer to demultiplex the signal into its constituent channels and each channel conditioned independently by a respective optical processing element before being re-multiplexed.
  • the optical processing element comprises a dispersion compensating element to provide optical dispersion compensation for an optical output of the first amplifier stage.
  • the dispersion compensating element is arranged to provide dispersion compensation for an optical signal immediately prior to the second amplifier stage. More preferably, the dispersion compensating element is a chirped fibre grating. As an alternative, a length of dispersion compensating fibre and a reflective grating may be used.
  • optical processing include variable gain/attenuation filtering and wavelength conversion, or a combination of these.
  • an optical repeater comprises an optical amplifier according to the first aspect of the present invention.
  • an optical communications system comprises one or more optical repeaters according to the second aspect of the present invention.
  • the optical communications system is a high capacity system operating at a line rate of 10 Gbps or more.
  • the optical communications system is a wavelength division multiplexed transmission system.
  • an optical repeater 1 comprises a two-stage Erbium doped fibre amplifier which is constructed around an optical circulator 2.
  • the amplifier includes a first pump source 3 which co-pumps a first stage amplifier 4 at 980 nm and a second pump source 5 which co-pumps a second stage amplifier 6 at 1480 nm.
  • Each of the first amplifier stage 4, second amplifier stage 6, first pump source 3 and second pump source 5 are coupled to a respective port of the optical circulator 2.
  • the optical circulator 2 provides inherent optical isolation for each arm so that a separate optical isolator is not required.
  • a chirped fibre grating 7 is provided in one arm of the optical amplifier 1 to provide dispersion compensation.
  • the 980 nm counterpumped first stage 4 provides a degree of preamplification with a low noise figure while a high output power can be achieved by strongly pumping the second stage 6 at 1480 nm.
  • the 980 nm pump is not driven hard so that the inherent risk of failure of 980 nm pumped fibre amplifiers is reduced.
  • Figure 2 shows an optical transmission system which includes a pair of endstations 8 connected by a high capacity transmission path 9 (operating at a line rate of 10 Gbps or more) having a number of the optical repeaters 1 of Figure 1.

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Optical Communication System (AREA)
  • Lasers (AREA)
EP99300303A 1998-01-20 1999-01-18 Optischer Zwischenverstärker Withdrawn EP0930730A3 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9801184 1998-01-20
GBGB9801184.4A GB9801184D0 (en) 1998-01-20 1998-01-20 An optical repeater

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0930730A2 true EP0930730A2 (de) 1999-07-21
EP0930730A3 EP0930730A3 (de) 2002-01-30

Family

ID=10825583

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP99300303A Withdrawn EP0930730A3 (de) 1998-01-20 1999-01-18 Optischer Zwischenverstärker

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0930730A3 (de)
JP (1) JPH11275013A (de)
GB (1) GB9801184D0 (de)

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5430572A (en) * 1993-09-30 1995-07-04 At&T Corp. High power, high gain, low noise, two-stage optical amplifier
US5598294A (en) * 1994-08-18 1997-01-28 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Optical fiber amplifier and optical fiber communication system
JPH0918417A (ja) * 1995-06-26 1997-01-17 Fuji Elelctrochem Co Ltd 双方向光通信システムの中継装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0930730A3 (de) 2002-01-30
GB9801184D0 (en) 1998-03-18
JPH11275013A (ja) 1999-10-08

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